Wake Me Up
by WalkingDeadHeart
Summary: What if it all was a dream? Takes place during 409 what if Rick wakes up and finds out none of it was real?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello y'all! So after i watched 409 i had this wonderful idea. What if the zombie apocalypse was just a dream? Instead of waking up beaten bloody rick wakes up in a hospital? This take place during 409 but goes in a ENTIRELY different direction before the end of the episode. I would like to know if this is something you would like to read more of even if it's only for one person. i'm not starting a new story at this point. I'm just testing the waters with this one. (i'm lagging soooo bad on my svu story)  
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Rick took a deep breath. For a moment he stopped breathing. He could feel the darkness surrounding him. He almost gave in, his body ached and begged for release, but then he remembered Carl. If he died he would come back as a walker, Carl would have to put him down, then his son would be all alone in the world. He would have no family, the group was gone. Carl at almost 13 years old would be by himself.

"Carl." Rick gasped out. He took some more deep breaths, that's when he smelled it. It was clean but in a way it burned his nose. The air had that hospital smell. Full of disinfectant, soap and he heard things. A woman's voice he didn't recognize calling out, he heard beeping and something like a whooshing noise. Rick opened his eyes but quickly shut them again. The bright light of the room hurt his eyes. He had to blink a few times before his eyes would adjust to it. He was in a white room, and there was flowers on the table next to him in a vase. It reminded him of the grandma vase Shane had given to him. Looking at it closer Rick realized it was the exact same vase. He took a better look around the room before he realized it was a hospital. Panicked filled his chest, the beeping noise got louder and more frequent. He attempted to start ripping off the all the tubes connected to him but before he could finish the job there were walkers all over him.

"Mr. Grimes you need to calm down." One of the them shouted. Wait, walkers can't talk. Rick looked around at the faces looking down at him. They were perfectly alive. Their skins bright and colorful. Their jaws not gaping at him trying to bite him. Moving, but words, not moans came out of them.

"_What the hell is going on?_" He thought before the darkness took him.

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When he woke up again. He saw a tall brunette woman talking to, he assumed a doctor.

"Lori?" Rick called out. "I_t can't be her. She died. I saw what the walker did to her._" He thought. But when the woman turned around, he saw Lori's face.

He started crying. Lori was alive! She was alive and healthy. She wasn't wearing the dress he last saw her in but instead jeans, and a t-shirt, along with those damn cowboy boots she always wore.

"I'll give you two some time." The man said as he left the room. Lori walked towards him. She sat on the bed. She slowly put her hand on his face and gently wiped the tears away. Rick went to grab her hand but got caught on something. He looked down t his arm and saw a Velcro cuff held him to the rail.

"They did that to stop you from ripping out your tubes." Lori said as she placed her hand in his. "I can't believe your awake." A tear leaked from her eyes. Again Rick tried to touch his wife but was again caught but the cuff.

"Please. I need to be loose from these." He said as panicked filled his chest.

Lori looked worried for a moment before looking behind her. "You promise to leave your tubes alone?" She asked.

Rick nodded his head.

Once Lori undid both cuffs Rick lunged himself at her, pulling her into a hug. "I can't believe you're alive." he mumbled into her neck

Lori was startled by the sudden movement but hugged him back. Now the tears came out even harder. She never thought she would be wrapped in Rick's arms again. The doctors had told her that he was never going to come out of the coma. That maybe she should start talking about taking him off life support. "Of course I'm alive." She laughed through the tears. "Why wouldn't I be?

Confusion was bouncing all around Rick's head. He was in a hospital. The whooshing noise he had heard earlier was traffic that came from his open window in said hospital room. Lori was alive. As for walkers, he wasn't sure. The last time he awoke from a coma the dead were walking. He wakes up again and now what? They disappeared? They found a cure? But how was Lori alive?

"What's happened?" Rick asked as he pulled from the hug but didn't let her go.

"You got shot, " Lori wiped at her tears. "after a car chase. There was a third gun man. Shane- Rick are you OK?"

"No, no, no." Rick whispered as he shook his head. "That can't be true." He sobbed.

"Rick, honey. It's OK, It wasn't your fault. No one knew." Lori said, mistaking Rick's fear.

"Dad?" Rick looked towards the door and saw Carl. He was holding Judith. His hair was just as long, but not greasy and unruly. His face wasn't covered in dirt, or anger. Instead it looked happy but confused. Carl looked to Lori. She nodded his head. Carl finished coming into the room he handed Judith off to his mother before throwing himself into his father's arms.

Rick, not expecting that fell on his back but returned his son's embrace. Last time he saw Carl, he had been mad at him for the fall of the prison. "_N__o_" Rick thought. " _the last time I saw him, I was leaving for work two years ago._ "

Lori has stood up from the bed to give Carl and Rick more room. She rested her head on Judith's as she watched them.

Rick held onto his son and took a deep breath. Instead of sweat, dirt and walker gunk he smelled like he put on too much Axe. Rick laughed, he never thought he would be glad to have his son stink of bad cologne.

Carl finally let his father go and sat on the end of the bed.

Rick looked at Lori. "Can I hold her?" He asked holding his arms out to Judith.

Lori paused in her swaying, confusion on her face but passed her baby to Rick. Lori watched as Rick hugged the baby he never met. The way he was holding her was the same way he held Carl. As a father who missed his child. The doctor told her Rick would be confused now that he was awake but she felt like she was the confused one.

"I'll be right back." Lori placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, nodded then went back to talking to the children. Judith seemed a little apprehensive about Rick but otherwise fine. It had been quiet a while since Lori had seen Carl smile, he was always moody now-a-days. She squeezed his shoulder then left the room.

"Excuse me?" She asked at the nurses' station. "I need to talk to Dr. Subramanian. It's about my husband. He just woke up from a coma."

"I'll page for him." The nurse nodded.

Lori walked back to Rick's room but didn't go in. Even though he had just spent two years in a coma Rick looked a little haggard. He looked exhausted. He had adjust the cot so he could lay down up sit still sit up. Judith now tucked into his side, was playing with his fingers as Carl talked about everything under the sun. While she was glad to see Rick and Carl together she also felt sadness. Carl ignored her most of the time and if he did acknowledge her it was barely more than a grunt. He was the same way towards Shane. Shane said they shouldn't let Carl see Rick because of that behavior, encase he acted the same towards Rick, Shane had argued but Carl had begged her to let him go. It had been the most she had gotten out of him for months. When she finally agreed to let him she even got a small smile out of it.

"Ms. Grimes?" She heard someone say her name.

Lori turned towards the voice and saw Dr. Subramanian. "Lori, Dr. S. Can we talk somewhere private?"

The doctor nodded. " Would you like to go to the cafeteria with me? To talk about Rick's condition?"

Lori nodded her head.

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"He said he couldn't believe I was alive. Why would he think I was dead? And he knew Judith! He wanted to hold her. He acted like he missed her. How is that possible?" Lori asked.

"I wish had an answer for you but coma patients are very hard to understand. We may never know what the brain does for them. We've had patients wake up after years, sometimes they said they knew what was going on the entire time, other times they think no time has passed at all. All I can suggest to you in this matter is to talk to your husband about it." Dr. S shrugged his shoulders. This was something Lori liked about him doctor. He never acted like he knew everything and she was dumb because she didn't understand all the medical terms. He had been Rick's doctor for about 8 months now and she was glad she had decided to switch doctors.

"Here's what I do know. Your husband is going to need time to adjust. I suggest we keep him here for at least a few days. It seems like everything is OK but we still should run some test and monitor his brain. We'll also do some psychical therapy during this time as well. While the nurses would do exercise to help his muscles from atrophying he hasn't actually used them for quite a while. I think we need to keep him as stress free as possible. Have you informed him of your current situation? Shane was Rick's friend, correct?" Dr. S. paused a moment to take a bite out his salad. Lori nodded. While she was glad Rick had finally woke up, the realization of what that meant was starting to sink in. She sighed and looked down at her coffee. She looked back up when Dr. S. placed his hand on her's.

"Lori, these next couple of months are going to be hard. Rick is going to need a lot of adjusting. I know that's a lot to ask. If you feel like you can't handle this now is the time to voice it. Is there someone else you'd like us to call?"

"No," Lori shook her head. "He is the father of my son, and I still love him. We are his family. Carl still needs him. I need him. We can do this." She said, she was nervous but she wasn't going to leave him.

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**So what do you guys think? Disclaimer i know nothing about coma patients or what it takes to take care of them. I just assumed some stuff. As a heads up I love Lori so this is going to be a lori/rick story. They are going to be the main focus. I will slowly be bringing in other characters of the walking dead but not everybody is going to be big in the story. This will also be a caryl story but that will be a sideline story not the main focus. Like i said on top i'm busy with another story so it might be a while before this one is updated. leave me a review telling me what you think of this story. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm back. So i've decided i'm going to be one of those fanfic writers that have multiple stories. I'm sorry to my svu readers who have been so patient with me for the past year! It's just these ideas pop into my head & they won't go away until i write them down. So ive decided in an attempt to keep my muse flowing i'll update the stories as they come to me. I do promise i wont start a new story on just a whim then never finish it. SOOO anyways here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

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Rick laid in bed staring up at the forgot how loud the noise pollution of a modern-day could be. Plus apart of him was afraid of what would happen when he woke up again. If he woke up. Would he be back in an apocalypse? Beaten to a pulp, struggling for breath? Maybe he died and this was the after life. It would explain Lori & Judith but not Carl. Even worse would he wake up in this bed? Part of him wept for joy at the idea that it had all been a dream. Another was horrified. All the loss he suffered, the things he did to survive, the people he met were what just; a dream? He groaned at that thought, and turned to lay on his side. How could he go back to a normal life after the past year & a half?

Rick never got any sleep that night. He was trapped in his thoughts as the sun bleed into his room. He had been fairly quiet so the nurse had left him alone for most of the night.

"Well, look whose awake?" Rick turned towards the voice.

"Michonne?" Rick barely recognized her. She looked truly happy and had a little boy on her hip.

"Was my musical voice able to reach through your coma dreams and pull you back into the real world? Carl owes me two candy bars." Michonne stepped into the room.

Rick smiled, before frowning. He never knew her before, so how did he know her now, after being a coma?

"Carl called me this morning. Told me everything. About the, what was the word again, walkers?" Michonne set the her son down with some toys before taking a closer step but not enforcing her presence.

Rick said nothing as he stared at the woman before him. This was not the stoic warrior he knew. This was a warm, friendly & opening mother, maybe even someone's wife.

Michonne did nothing but watch Rick as he watched her. Rick smirked, yes, this was the strong, not-be-messed with Michonne he knew, it was just a different side of her.

"Sorry," He chuckled, "you just look so different without your samurai sword."

"samurai sword?" Michonne lifted her eyebrow in disbelief.

"Tell you what? I'll you how I know you after you tell me how you know me." Rick leaned back.

Michonne smiled, "Well I'm not the best about listening to directions. So in my attempt to find the pediatrics part of the hospital I end up in the coma section, without knowing it. I walk into what I thought was my room turned out to be yours. Met your son, then you." She shrugged, " I guess I liked talking to you two. Now you're turn."

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Lori laid in her bed thinking about the past two years. Her and Rick's marriage treading on the edge of disaster than he got shot. She hated herself for months as she thought about the last words she said to him. That's probably why she let things go they way they did with Shane. Shane. He wanted to come over tonight. Self-loathing filled her. She had to get out of bed. Lori wandered down to the kitchen. She made herself some tea as she thought about that night.

_Lori downed the glass of wine, then quickly poured herself another one. The past couple of weeks had been filled with neighbors, friends and family stopping by. They were all so sorry about what happened to Rick. They acted like he had already died. It irritated her! Rick could still come out of the coma. He wasn't dead! Still they brought their condolences and casseroles. Lori hoped to never eat another casserole after this whole ordeal. She wanted to cook. She needed to something to take her mind away but everybody was there. Reminding her, her husband was in the hospital. Lori hadn't even realized she finished her drink. She was thankful of the wine, someone had brought her. If only they all would. She had just finished pouring the last glass of that bottle when there was a knock at the door. Lori angrily set the bottle down before opening the door._

"_Listen, it's really late, me & Carl are just fine. We don't need any- Shane?" She asked once she had the door opened. She thought it was someone else trying to give her another damn casserole._

"_Hey, well I was just stopping by after my shift to check up on you..." He trailed off not sure what do with the woman in front of him._

"_Oh Shane! I'm so sorry. Please come in." Lori now felt stupid for yelling at him. Shane understood the situation. When people would start talking about Rick like he was dead Shane would shut them up. Sometimes Lori felt like he was the only other person outside of her & Carl that believed Rick would wake up. Something she was quite grateful for._

_Shane hesitated before entering. "Everything OK?"_

_Lori nodded her head, "Are you hungry? I have so many casseroles. Even if Rick was here I'd never be able to get though them all."_

_Shane followed her into the kitchen, "If you're sure it's not to much of a problem."_

"_Pssh, none at all." Lori set her drink down, perhaps a little to hard._

"_Are you sure you should be operating heavy machinery?" Shane questioned her._

_Lori laughed. Loudly. It wasn't even that funny but for some reason Lori couldn't stop._

"_Lori, shh. You're gonna wake up Carl." Shane tried to get the drunk woman to calm down._

_Lori placed her hand over her mouth as she slowed down into giggles. "Carl isn't here. He's at a friend's. We need to move with our lives. Rick will wake up any day and he'll feel bad if he finds out we stopped living our lives until he woke up."_

_Shane gave a humorless laugh, "Yeah, that sounds like him alright."_

_The two watched each other, lost in daze until the microwave beeper went off. Jolting them out of the trance, Lori prepared Shane a plate before joining him at the table with her glass._

"_I think you should slow down on that." Shane shook his fork at her glass._

_Lori glared, "Shane, I am adult woman if I wanna drink a full bottle of wine I will & you can't stop me." She snapped at him._

"_Woah, sorry no offense." Shane turned his focus on eating. " So how have you been doing?"_

_Lori pondered the question. She tried to say she was OK like she had told everybody else but this was Shane. He understood her pain. He'd known Rick since high school. If it hadn't been for him Rick would have never asked her to dance the night they met. He called Rick his brother during his Best Man toast at their wedding. Rick told Shane before even telling his own parents when she got pregnant with carl. Even after much begging from Rick he attended a birthing class with her in his place. He was the first person to visit in the hospital for Carl's birth. Now he here was checking up on her something he didn't have to do, being one of the few people to believe Rick was going to wake up. It was then that everything she had tried to drink down came back up._

"_Oh Shane!" She started crying. " I don't know what to do."_

"_Rick is in a coma! The last thing I ever said to him was in a fight. What if he never wakes up? What if the last words I ever say to my husband was how he doesn't love his family?" She cried into her hands._

"_Hey, hey. It's gonna be OK." Shane wrapped his arms around her._

_Lori cried into his shoulder as everything she tried to handle the past couple of weeks crashed down on her._

"W_hat am I going to do?" She sobbed, leaning away from his shoulder._

"_Whatever you have to. You're a strong, beautiful woman. You'll make it through this. No matter what happens." Shane brushed her hair away from her face._

_Lori looked down at her wedding ring. "I don't wanna raise our son alone. Carl needs his father. I need him."_

"_Carl will have his father & you will have your husband, I don't doubt that. But, " He paused almost as if he was unsure how his next words will hit her but instead of words coming from his lips, they landed themselves on Lori's._

_Somewhere in the back part of her mind her sober brain was screaming at her to stop, but Lori didn't listen to that part. Instead she listened to the drunk part that ached to be touched. She had felt so long alone and now for a sweet passing moment she didn't. She gave in to Shane._

_He led them to the couch. As he thrusted in her he whispered of how he always wanted her. _

Lori shook herself from the memory. That night was never supposed to happen but it did. When she found out she was pregnant, Shane told Lori she had to stop living in the dream that Rick would ever wake up. It seemed Shane had moved himself into her life before she even had enough time to process the pregnancy and her coma husband. Now Rick was awake. Did she want to continue her life with Shane? Or did she want her old one back with Rick? Would Rick even take her back? Lori finished off her tea and headed to the couch to sleep.

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**Love it? Hate it? let me know!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys how's going? Excited for the new season to start?! Any who here's the next chapter.**

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Rick panted as he tried walking in between the railings. If he had the breath he would of laughed at the situation. In the other world his body had grown hard with manual labor & the constant running. Not only was he soft and doughy now but he had also apparently lost the ability to walk.

"You're doing excellent Mr. Grimes." Amy, his psychical therapist, cheered him on. When she walked into his room on the first day Rick couldn't believe his eyes. So many people from the other world were popping up into his life & he couldn't understand it. He hadn't got the chance to get to know Amy very well. He had only been in camp for a day when he decided to go back for the guns & when he returned she had been bitten. He only knew what Andrea told him & after Amy died she didn't talk about her much. Even though he knew it was a dream, the guilt he felt wouldn't let him look into her eyes for to long.

" I think this is good for today." Amy said as she headed over to get Rick's wheelchair.

"No!" Rick raised his voice, "No. I can go on for a bit longer" He pleaded. The hard work made him sore but it also tired him so much he as able to sleep without dreaming.

Amy stared at him for a moment before nodding her head & smiling. "If you say so."

They had continued on for another hour before Amy was able to talk him into being done for the day. "You know, Mr. Grimes at this rate you might be able to go home days sooner than the doctors thought." She said as she pushed him back to his room.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" He smiled

Rick thought of his home once he was tucked into bed. He wasn't blind to the cracks in his family. He saw the way Carl never looked or spoke to his mother anymore then he had to. He noticed how Shane had only to come visit him once & couldn't look him in the eye when he was here. After that day he would send Lori with an excuse that he was busy at the station. They lived in a small town. Not enough happened to keep Shane as busy as he claimed. Rick knew that what he dreamed about with Shane & Lori had happened.

The anger didn't hit him quite as hard as last time. Actually the anger didn't hit him at all. He had lost Lori last time because of his anger he wasn't going to lose her again. He was still hurt by the knowledge but he wasn't going to let it destroy any chance he had to make-up with his wife and maybe even save his friendship with Shane.

He just wasn't sure how he was going to tell them he knew.

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Rick looked at the clock it was now 4:05 and Carl still wasn't there. Carl had come by everyday after school to come visit him coming around 15 til 4. Rick flicked through the TV channels again telling himself that the boy probably just got caught with friends or maybe an after school program. He had been talking about wanting to join some. But when 5:00 rolled around & Lori hadn't shown up either Rick knew something was wrong. " _Calm down. Nothing is wrong. I'm sure that they're just busy or something._" He thought as he struggled to get out of bed. "_It's not like they got caught in a horde of walkers._"

He wobbled over to the chair in the corner of the room. Once settled in he dialed his home phone. It rang a few times before someone answered.

"Hello?" A man's voice asked.

"Shane? It's Rick. Can I talk to Carl?" Rick kept down the bubbling emotion that tried to rise when he heard Shane's voice answer.

"Hey man I think you should talk to Lori first." Before Rick could say anything he heard Lori's voice. "Rick, is everything OK?"

"Yeah I was just wondering where you and Carl are? You didn't come to visit." Rick knew he sounded pathetic but he didn't care. He knew that they had lives to live, that they couldn't spend every waking moment with him but after the hell he went through or at least though he went through he had to know that they were safe.

"I'm sorry. Carl got into a fight today at school & we've been dealing with that. It'll probably be a while before he can come down and see you again. He's currently grounded."

"What was the fight about?"

Lori sighed. " I don't know. He refuses to tell me." Rick heard the sadness in her voice.

"Let me talk to him. Maybe I can get it out of him." There was silence on the phone before Lori said OK. He heard her call for Carl twice, second time informing him that his father was on the phone. Instead of hearing the phone being passed on, Carl had picked up the phone from a different part of the house.

"So what's this I hear about you getting into a fight?" Rick asked once Lori hung up her phone.

"Are you going to start in on me too?"

"I'm just wondering what was so bad that you had to get into a fight, getting yourself into trouble & now I can't see you?"

"It wasn't my fault." Carl said after a moment of silence. "That doughebag called Mom a whore. Called you brain-dead."

Rick ran his fingers through his hair & sighed at its length. He wasn't use to how short it was.

" Dad, I need to you tell about Shane & Mom"

"I know Carl. I know about it."

Carl was quiet for so long Rick had thought he hung up. "Carl? You still there?"

"So what are you going to do about it?" Carl finally asked.

"I don't know. But I do know I still love your mother & Shane. I'm sorry that you're dealing with this but we, the adults, will figure out the situation once I come home."

"How can you still love her?"

"Carl in the other world your mother dies thinking we hated her. That guilt drove me mad. I was unable to take care of you or your sister. It was a battle to get up everyday, thinking on how the people I loved were no longer there & how it was my fault. I know that world isn't real but Carl it felt real! All the pain, all the love everything was real to me. I'm not going to make that mistake again. They made a mistake but they still love you. If anything were to happen to them you'd never get over this."

Rick could practically hear the Carl thinking over the phone. "OK."

Rick heard Lori's muffled voice. "I gotta go Dad, I'll call ya tomorrow after school yeah?"

Rick smiled. "Sounds great. Give your mother my love."

They said their good-byes then hung up. Rick leaned back in the chair. Suddenly a new strength came over him as he walked back over to his bed.

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Carl wandered into the Kitchen where his mother was cooking. He leaned against the wall not saying anything.

"How was your talk with your father?" Lori asked.

Carl ignored her question. "I'm mad at you about Shane. It was cool for a while but he's not my dad I'm sick of him trying to be."

Lori turned to face her son. She didn't say anything but nodded her head at him, allowing him to say what he needed to say.

"Dad knows about you and Shane. No, I didn't tell him. Not even when he was still in his coma so I don't know how he knows but he does." Carl paused. "But he still loves you. And I- I do too. I'm still mad at you." He clarified. "But thinking about dad being in a coma made me think, I want you to know that."

Lori couldn't keep the tears from falling down her face as she walked over to give him a hug. Carl remained stiff at first but then leaned into it. For a quick moment he wrapped his arms around her & held her tight before letting go.

Lori wiped the tears off her face. "I love you too. I"m sorry about Shane. I'll talk to him."

Carl nodded at his mother before leaving the room.

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**Love it? Hate it? Let me know!  
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